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All about cleaning, house & home, organizing, etc. By a laid back 'Happy Slob' for others of her kind.

Monday, January 05, 2009

So, you just went and bought yourself a beautiful new set of dishes...and after the first use you see all sorts of nasty greyish black marks left behind - from your cutlery! Aarrgh!

Before you freak out entirely, there are a couple of ways to remove these black scrape marks from your dishes. These tips might even help remove old marks left behind on old and much loved dishes - thus revitalizing them, and making them seem as good as new!

Bar Keepers Friend Cookware Cleanser & Polish- I love this stuff! This amazing all-purpose cleaner does just about everything you can imagine - it cleans pricey All Clad pots and pans (or any stainless cookware - All Clad just happens to recommend it), porcelain, copper, brass. It's fantastic in the bathroom to clean stubborn stains from sinks or tubs or tiles. But, in this case, Barkeepers Friend is pretty adept at removing those nasty scratch marks on your dinner plates, bowls or mugs. Just make a paste of Barkeepers Friend (which is a very fine powder cleanser) and water, and use a soft cloth to rub the stain marks out. Often, these aren't actual scratches - just marks that CAN be removed.

Scotch-Brite Scrub SpongesOnline I found an expert who suggested this as another way to remove these marks. Just moisten the scrubby pad and use it gently to rub away the marks. I guess using this together with the Barkeepers Friend would be an unbeatable solution!

Wedgwood China suggests Barkeepers Friend to remove the 'pencil marks' that are sometimes left behind due to minerals rubbed off of inexpensive cutlery. They also recommended tooth powder as a cleaner for these marks! (If I can find some...I'll give it a go and let you all know how it turns out.) Otherwise, I suppose regular paste toothpaste (not the gel type) might do as a cleaner for these marks as well.

Another tip - generally, dishes with a shinier finish will have a tendency to leave these scuff marks behind. If you want to avoid this problem, choose dinnerware with a matte finish - it helps prevent these marks.